Voters faced a variety of glitches and irregularities at polling places throughout Los Angeles during Tuesday’s statewide primary, making it difficult for some to exercise their rights, according to a Loyola Marymount University audit.

Researchers at LMU’s Center for the Study of Los Angeles said while most of the issues were minor, some were more troubling, such as a lack of available parking and poll workers not showing up.

Thirty percent of polling places had addresses that were not in clear sight outside of the building and only 44 percent of the locations had dedicated parking lots available, the audit found.

“Our concern was a combination of … the polling place being difficult to find and parking being difficult to find; we believe that’s a deadly combination in frustrating voters and turning voters away who actually attempt to vote,” said Fernando J. Guerra, the center’s director.

The center sent teams of students to 375 out of the city’s roughly 1,000 polling places to observe and record conditions. The audit examined accessibility, including Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) standards for polling places, staffing and equipment, as well as safety and authenticity, including the presence of an American flag.

Nine percent of polling locations audited had two or fewer poll workers on-site when they were visited, which was sometimes in the early morning. Overall, there was an average of 5 poll workers present when the students visited the city’s polling places.

In addition, nearly 13 percent of polling places audited had at least one voting booth that was not in working order. In Council District 2, 48 percent of polling places had at least one malfunctioning voting booth while it was nearly 30 percent in districts 5, 11 and 13.

“It wasn’t like it was a disaster by any means, but there were just enough small issues … that it wasn’t quite how it should be,” said Brianne Gilbert, the center’s associate director.

Students reported a lack of available parking, sometimes due to street cleaning prohibitions. Six percent of the polling places offered only street parking that was paid or metered, while 20 percent of the polling places had street parking with multiple stipulations, such as restricted public parking hours and permits required, according to the audit.

Elizabeth Knox, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County’s Registrar-Recorder’s Office, said with nearly 18,000 poll workers and nearly 5,000 polling places, that overall the election went “pretty smooth.”

Knox said that they had “a few volunteers” who failed to show up at between 10 and 13 polling locations but “most of them were up and running within the hour.” While the county abides by its protocols and guidelines and does its best to make the process as accessible as possible, she said, they’re also at the mercy of availability and location.

“You have to have poll locations spread out within communities and make sure that every voter has access to the location,” Knox said.

Guerra said he hopes the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder and city clerks, who also run their own elections, will examine the data and make recommendations to the L.A. County Board of Supervisors and the City Council to better fund elections. He said he also plans to recommend that officials offer a prize of perhaps $10,000 or $20,000 to a randomly selected poll worker who works on election days to increase their participation.

“Oftentimes, we talk about spending millions of dollars to defend democracy abroad but we spend a small percentage to actually practice it at home,” Guerra said.

Brenda Gazzar is a multilingual multimedia reporter who has worked for a variety of news outlets in California and in the Middle East since 2000. She has covered a range of issues, including breaking news, immigration, law and order, race, religion and gender issues, politics, human interest stories and education. Besides the Los Angeles Daily News and its sister papers, her work has been published by Reuters, the Denver Post, Ms. Magazine, the Jerusalem Post, USA Today, the Christian Science Monitor, the Los Angeles Jewish Journal, The Cairo Times and others. Brenda speaks Spanish, Hebrew and intermediate Arabic and is the recipient of national, state and regional awards, including a National Headliners Award and one from the Associated Press News Executives' Council. She holds a dual master's degree in Communications/Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Texas at Austin.

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